Tiga condemns Government dead end appeal to WTO

The Government's approach to lobby the World Trade Organisation over the subsidies that Canada provides its local games industry has ended in a "cul de sac", according to Tiga.

Tiga once again called for the UK government to embrace policies similar to those of Canada's, including a 20 per cent tax break for games production.

"Last year the Government said that the UK via the European Union would take legal action against Canada if its support for its videogames industry violated WTO rules," said Richard Wilson, Tiga's CEO. "We now know that there are no legal grounds on which to lodge a complaint."

"We cannot stop our competitors from benefiting from tax breaks but there is a simple solution: copy them. The Government should announce in the Budget its intention to introduce a 20 per cent tax break for games production, similar to the EU approved French regime that applies to games that pass a cultural test," he added.

"With a tax break of this kind in place, an additional GBP 220 million would be invested, potentially creating a further 1,600 high quality jobs. This measure would cost HM Treasury GBP 150 million over five years - a fraction of the recent GBP 100 billion taxpayer bailout of the UK banking system."

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Was wondering what had happened with this. I've seen people blame bad management here for the problems we're facing, but the bottom line is it's not an even playing field, no matter what the management is like. Quebec is a cheaper place to live, PLUS their studios get a ****load of help from the government. It really is no wonder there's a brain drain towards there.

Irconially, games is one of the few foreign currency earners we still have in the UK, so you'd think the government would be bending over to help the industry.